Honda CRV Dress For It

Honda is promoting the all-new, third generation Honda CRV 4WD vehicle in Australia with “Dress For It”, a TV ad featuring a man peeling off layers of clothing in the streets of Melbourne. The 45 second and 30 second TV commercials show the young man moving from suit to jeans, from tuxedo to beachwear on his way to his car. As he walks along the pavement, changing his clothes, he passes shoppers, buskers, cyclists, a Citroen, schoolgirls, a newspaper salesman and a tradesman before reaching the Honda CR-V. His girlfriend, it appears, has been on the same kind of journey.

The final eight-second reveal shows the CR-V from several angles, at 180 degrees wrap-around steadicam shot, which in turn becomes a seamless crane shot. Set to the track “ Le Disko” by the LA-based electronica/indie/rock band, Shiny Toy Guns, the story highlights the fact that we all have different sides to our character, just like the Honda CRV 4WD vehicle. Click on the image below to play the video in YouTube

The Honda CR-V “Dress for It” spot involved five weeks of pre-production to ensure a seamless-looking commercial that effectively communicates the idea that the CR-V is a car for all occasions.

Hughes chose Melbourne’s iconic Flinders Lane as the main location for the shoot as, “It has all the characteristics of a European city,” he says. All the same, he didn’t want the location to overshadow the car so, with the assistance of the team at Animal Logic, he included several unique elements to give the street a mysterious European look.

“To begin with, the street was a bit of blank canvas,” explains Hughes. “We had a lot of freedom in terms of populating the street with interesting characters, and objects”. More than 80 extras were hired for the shoot, taking up positions as stallholders, couriers, skaters and gangsters, among other things.

“The viewer is rewarded by discovering new things with each viewing,” says Hughes. “It works in a subliminal way and the layering effect allowed us to create a truly dynamic shot.”

The real art to the production was making it seamless, the changes of clothing is also remarkable. In order to achieve this, the production team spent several weeks testing the wardrobe and employed a seamstress who used a combination of press-studs, Velcro and elastic to facilitate the quick changes.

Because the hero can’t physically wear four layers of clothing at one time, the shoot had to be split into two parts. It was Animal Logic’s brief to seamlessly composite the transition between two separate takes to make four wardrobe changes look like they took place in one take.

“The Honda CR-V ‘Dress For It’ ad focuses on live action, and it is supposed to look very much like it is one long take,” said Nicholas Ponzoni, Animal Logic’s Visual Effects Supervisor on the ad. “Therefore, as integral as the visual effects are to the success of the ad, it was crucial that they weren’t visible to the viewer.”

The greatest challenge of the project was tracking the hero and making his wardrobe changes seamless given that they were blending two completely different takes, which naturally provided small discrepancies such as the hero’s head possibly being in two different places in each shot or the pace of his stride differing slightly.

In addition to the 45-second ad, Animal Logic also needed to create a 30-second spot. This required using the same transition point, yet shooting a different ‘Part A’ and compositing it on to the existing ‘Part B’. This also involved a dynamic retime, which meant not speeding up the entire spot overall, but choosing moments to speed up without it being noticeable to the viewer.

The “Le Disko” track was performed by Shiny Toy Guns on their October 2005 album “We Are Pilots”. Shiny Toy Guns are Carah Faye and Chad Petree (vocals), Jeremy Dawson (synths/bass guitar) and Mikey Martin (drums). See the Shiny Toy Guns MySpace site.

Bridge
If what they say is true…
You’re a boy – and I’m a girl
I will never fall in love with you

About the New Honda CRV

The new CR-V range is available in three variants – CR-V, CR-V Sport and CR-V Luxury. All three variants feature a 2.4-litre DOHC i-VTEC engine with 125kW of power (up 7kW over the previous car) and an improved Real-Time 4WD system for sure-footed handling on slippery road surfaces.

Engine torque is 218Nm, with a flatter torque curve than the outgoing model making for smoother acceleration and easier driving. Paired with the engine is the choice of a new six-speed manual or five-speed automatic transmission with a Drive-by-Wire throttle.

The third-generation is the safest CR-V ever, with all variants featuring Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), front and side airbags with Occupant Position Detection System (OPDS), Active Front Head Restraints, ABS brakes and an Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure for greater safety protection in a crash. The CR-V Sport and Luxury gain curtain airbags.

The CR-V seats five and has a long list of comfort features, including cruise control, a tilt & telescopic adjustable steering wheel fitted with audio controls, MP3-capable CD player with AM/FM tuner and speed sensitive audio volume that automatically adjusts to match the speed of the car. All variants also have an audio input jack in the centre console for plugging in a personal MP3 player.

The CR-V Sport and CR-V Luxury both feature a sunroof, fog-lights and a six-stack CD-player while the Luxury also receives heated front leather seats.

The third-generation CR-V was made available from Honda dealerships on February 15th and has a recommended retail price beginning at $31,990.

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